Eve Of Destruction
by JA Baker
Summary: For over a thousand years, Illyria has controlled and protected humanity, always searching for the perfect society. But before she can rebuild, she must first destroy!


_It's all owned by someone else.  
__Someone not me._

**Eve Of Destruction**

It used to be so simple, back when she could simply assume an appropriate form and lay waste to entire continents. Back when her power was only limited by her imagination, and worlds trembled at the very sound of her name. But then she was betrayed, ambushed and cast down into oblivion, only to be brought back, trapped inside a limited shell, her powers stripped away by thought who thought themselves her equals, or betters.

At first anger had consumed her, but she had learned; by the dust of them all, she had learned. The old ways were gone, never to be returned: humanity was the future, and she saw it as her right to be at the very top. But she had also learned that being at the very top often came at a price, and that the real power could often be found a step or two down, and back in the shadows. With this in mind she had plotted, planed and connived, reaching out, slowly spreading her influence across the world. She had infiltrated the secret societies and brotherhoods of man, gaining further insight into their ways. The _Illuminati_, the Freemasons, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Conference, the United Nations, the Council of Foreign Relations and others cemented her position as the true power behind humanities drive to the stars.

It had been easy to control the technological development; giving grunts and funding to people working in the right people, making sure Thomas Kearny and Takayoshi Fuchida met and started working together. Suppressing their discoveries to after their deaths had been an unavoidable necessity; she had to make sure that her people were able to test the first jump-drives decades before the Pathfinder was launched, scouting out other habitable worlds and taking care of any locals who might object to the expansion of her domain beyond the Earth. Free to wage unrestricted war, she had burned a dozen worlds clean of life, exterminating spices that might have otherwise challenged her control of humanities destiny.

Expansion went hand in hand with competition, and she allowed the humans under her domain to fight amount themselves, only placing restrictions on them when their reckless actions started to threaten her plans. She came to the conclusion that a strong, central government was needed to guide humanity to the future she saw for them, so elevated the House of Cameron, one of her most long-standing and loyal minions, and placed them at the head of her Star League. Far from a true Utopia, it had none the less been a relatively golden age, but under her somewhat benevolent rule humanity had prospered like nether before, reaching new heights in art and science. She had expanded her domain, through politics, bribery, and when all else had failed, by war. The army she had built for herself was second to none, and soon all but the most distance outposts of humanity were under her control.

The necessity of keeping to the shadows unfortunately came hand in hand with sometimes missing plots against her puppet, and arch-traitor Amaris struck down her figure head and sort to take the throne. The desire to simply walk up to the Usurper and snap his neck like a twig had appealed to her more ruthless side, but allowing herself to be discovered now would be trouble than it was worth, so she had to rely on her cats-paw, Kerensky, to do the dead. He had not failed her, but the damage was done: the once mighty Star League had started to crumble around her as her surviving minions fought amongst themselves for her favour.

Realizing the situation was untenable, she had taken the long view. Sending Kerensky and much of her army away, she had let the empire she had so painstakingly built fall to flame and ash, until it was a broken shadow of its former glory. On Terra, her throne-world, remained untouched by the ravages of war. Billions died, their blood a holy sacrifice to her glory, sealing the covenant between herself and humanity.

Slowly, over the centuries, she had allowed the shattered remains of the Star League to begin the slow and painful journey back up to the glory they had once known. In an attempt to avoid the mistakes of the past, she had cloaked her new minions in the robes of mysticism and high technology. From this she built a new power base, one that in some respects suppressed even the Star league for the amount of control she could exert through her carefully chosen puppets. Then, when the time was right, she had recalled the children of Kerensky, igniting a fire that should have reforged the sword that had been broken.

But again she was knocked off course by those she sort to protect, and much of her power and influence was lost, costing her even Terra itself. Only the most loyal remained at her side, and she swelled their ranks with the downcast, the disposed and those who had lost their way. Using science and sorcery, she had raised a chosen few of the most dedicated to be her hand and teeth, nigh unstoppable agents of death and destruction ready to do her bidding, no matter the cost. Her _Manei Domini_ had spread much fear and confusion amid her enemies, but try as she might, she could not get the fractured leaders of the former Star League to fully reform her empire. The only alternative was a new war, the likes of which had never been seen by the eyes of man. Indeed, not since the demon wars of the Primordium Age had such death and destruction been planed or unleashed.

Sitting on her throne on Terra, looking at the maps that showed the full, un-doctored extent of her domain, she felt sure that her plan was just: only by bring humanity to its knees could she lead it into the light of a new dawn. Turning to one of her most trusted aid, the man known to his subordinates as The Master, she simply nodded, the unspoken order unleashing the full fury of her Holy War upon the worlds of man. The Jihad had begun, and no force could stand in the way of Illyria of Vahla ha'nesh now.

Not even The Immortal, who had taken the name Devlin Stone.

**The End**


End file.
